Govt rejects OGRA to increase prices of petroleum

ISLAMABAD - The government on Monday rejected Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority's (OGRA) proposals to increase prices of petroleum products for the month of July, deciding instead to maintain the existing rates by providing a subsidy of Rs 510 million.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sahrif had directed Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to provide relief to the masses during holy month of Ramazan. Later, the ministry of finance announced the decision to maintain prices of petroleum products at the existing level. OGRA had proposed to increase petroleum prices by Rs 3.36 per litre.

It may be mentioned here that the government also provided a subsidy of Rs1.78 billion to keep petroleum prices unchanged for the month of June, however, kerosene oil price was reduced from Rs98.07 to Rs97.40 per liter with a decrease of Rs0.67 rupees per liter.